


mateflight

by arcanawildcard, clairelutra



Series: proof of concept [5]
Category: Persona 5
Genre: Accidental Marriage, Dragon Riders, F/M, Pining, rushed as heeeeell
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-19
Updated: 2020-01-19
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:48:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22315093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arcanawildcard/pseuds/arcanawildcard, https://archiveofourown.org/users/clairelutra/pseuds/clairelutra
Summary: Akira tilted his head in silent question.“W-well!” Ann blurted, now adorably awkward and alarmed. Wide blue eyes danced to him and then away, her fingers curling in the collar of her Rider leathers. “I-I mean... Not much you can do about it, I guess, I just... thought my first flight would be a little more romantic.”Most of the Riders he knew had a much more utilitarian view of these things—it was the norm to find a temporary partner for your bi-yearly mating flights until you had a real mate—but somehow... it fit that Ann Takamaki would break the mold.“Roses? Fireworks?” he asked, not bothering to disguise his interest.“Well, those are nice,” she agreed, smiling wistfully. “But really just... I don’t know. Someone who loves me for me, I guess.” She looked down at the sheaf of papers in her lap and ran her thumb over the empty ‘yes’ checkbox forWill this flight establish you and your chosen partner as a matepair?Done, said Arsene to Akira,sotto voceand knowing.Akira shoved his dragon out of his mindspace.
Relationships: Amamiya Ren/Takamaki Ann, Kurusu Akira/Takamaki Ann, Persona 5 Protagonist/Takamaki Ann
Series: proof of concept [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1276436
Comments: 14
Kudos: 73





	mateflight

**Author's Note:**

> thenoraninja said: Dragon AU with Akirann maybe? Where Arsene and Carmen/personas are dragons! (the rest of the PT? also persona dragons??)
> 
> ...it turned out as an odd fusion of pern and inheritance cycle, really

Akira wasn’t saying it was _awkward_ to stand next to Ann Takamaki as they registered their dragons for a mating flight, but it was something close.

The sheer _number_ of other Riders attempting to murder him with their eyes was really something, especially with Arsene radiating smugness through their soulbond and Carmen’s proud, hungry lust echoing from down the metaphorical hall.

He wasn’t exactly _surprised_ that Carmen had chosen Arsene for her first flight (he was the squad’s leader, after all), nor was he too surprised that Ann had agreed to it (they were good friends, and Ann had always valued trust in her relationships), but it was still pretty surreal to walk into Igor’s office and ask for the papers to make it official.

“So! Um... Thanks... thanks for doing this for me,” Ann murmured as they waited to be summoned. “Carmen’s so picky I’m not sure what I would have done if you said no.”

“All out of the goodness of my heart,” he murmured back, dry as cracked scales. Did she think he got _nothing_ out of this? There was a very good reason that most of the guys in this room would kill to be him.

(In the back of his head, Arsene’s smugness got louder.)

She laughed quietly, then trailed off into a sigh. “Seriously, though. Carmen was refusing to consider anyone else so hard I really thought we might be doing this alone.“

Carmen broke into the conversation with the mental equivalent of a snort and a distant, _I’m certainly not the only ‘picky’ one around here._

Ann flushed.

“...I’m flattered,” said Akira. That wasn’t _quite_ the word for the acrobatics in his stomach or the five-alarm heat of the thought that he’d been among her first and only choices, but it also was something close.

She sighed again, ruefully this time, her blush gorgeously accentuating the already-gorgeous lines of her face. “Ooooof course you are.”

He tilted his head in silent question.

“W-well!” she blurted, now adorably awkward and alarmed. Wide blue eyes danced to him and then away, her fingers curling in the collar of her Rider leathers. “I-I mean... Not much you can do about it, I guess, I just... thought my first flight would be a little more romantic.”

Most of the Riders he knew had a much more utilitarian view of these things—it was the norm to find a temporary partner for your bi-yearly mating flights until you had a real mate—but somehow... it fit that Ann Takamaki would break the mold.

“Roses? Fireworks?” he asked, not bothering to disguise his interest.

“Well, those are nice,” she agreed, smiling wistfully. “But really just... I don’t know. Someone who loves me for me, I guess.” She looked down at the sheaf of papers in her lap and ran her thumb over the empty ‘yes’ checkbox for _Will this flight establish you and your chosen partner as a matepair?_

 _Done_ , said Arsene to Akira, _sotto voce_ and knowing.

Akira shoved his dragon out of his mindspace.

“A-again!” Ann blurted, endearingly embarrassed. “Not really something you can help, you know? It’s pretty silly idea anyway. Nobody really expects their first flight to be with their one and only, yeah?”

( _I could be your one and only_ , flitted through Akira’s mind apropos of nothing, and he couldn’t even blame it on his dragon that time.)

“Well,” he said aloud, rather than dwell on the fact that this wasn’t nearly the first time he’d thought something like that. “Let’s start with the roses.”

“Huh?”

He nodded at the papers. “We have three weeks before the flight. Let me make up the difference.”

“Y-you don’t have... to...” She trailed off when she met his eye, her own going wide and soft.

He’d by lying if he said his heart hadn’t lurched for that look.

Her fading flush darkened yet again.

(How many times now? He could count but he was too busy glowing.)

“...Okay.”

* * *

And so three weeks passed in a parade of dates, from roses to fireworks to late night rendezvous in flower fields and mid-morning brunches in uptown.

Arsene only judged him a little bit and Carmen actually _helped_ , which Akira was equal parts suspicious of and grateful for, and by the time the day itself rolled around, He’d been forced to admit, if only to himself, that maybe he’d fulfilled Ann’s initial wish too—there weren’t many other explanations for how or why her mere presence turned up the color contrast on the whole world.

(It always had, and that blend of overwhelming peace and quiet thrill was nothing new.

 _Dammit_.

There was a reason he tried not to think about how lovely she was or just how many people wanted her.)

Night came all the same, and if his part in the lovemaking was a little too fervent and a little too honest, then no one was in any state to comment on it.

They fell asleep together with fingers intertwined, and Akira himself wasn’t in a state to question that either...

Until the next morning, when he found his veins alight with a new bond singing through them, Ann’s rose-petal-and-ember presence pressing up against the edge of his consciousness just as surely as her naked form was pressed against his side.

Neither dragon—neither of the two that he could hear _equally_ well now—had any apologies to offer.

 _This is a mess_ , he mentally muttered at the both of them. Summoning any stronger negative emotion was beyond him right now.

 _I do believe someone had to do it_ , was all Arsene said, normally-wily Carmen radiating contentment behind him.

Akira was about to protest, he really was, but then Ann half woke up, blinked at him blearily a few times, and then sighed herself into a puddle against him, mentally, emotionally, and physically.

After that, the only objection he could make was, _...Now the paperwork’s all wrong._

Arsene laughed his draconic laugh and nudged Akira back to sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> new game: spot the point at which _i_ started to fall asleep.
> 
> (boyfriend material ch6 progress: 2.3k, ~50% done)


End file.
